Saturday, September 29, 2007

Here is a letter I wrote to a dear friend of mine, Ryan Brush. He attended a meeting with me at the home of Scott Sutton, organizer for the Portland, OR MeetUp group for Ron Paul. After the meeting and a long drive back to Salem, Ryan asked me to help him find literature and media to solidify his support for Ron Paul because he was excited, yet not quite devoted to the cause. Ryan is an honest guy who isn't going to go with the flow just because it's the cool thing to do. He is an articulate man of great education and background. He served in the Marine Corps for 4 years, has a beautiful family with 2 wonderful children and he is a skilled welder and he also he holds a Bachelors' degree is Sociology. Here is my response:

Dear Ryan,

The enlightened mind of Thomas Jefferson carefully chose the words of the preamble of the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (Note: the original hand-written text ended on the phrase "the pursuit of property" rather than "the pursuit of Happiness" but the phrase was changed in subsequent copies.

Thomas Jefferson believed that the "truths are self-evident", meaning, they are mathematically self-explanatory, or proofs and not theories.

Liberty is granted by our humanity alone, not by a governing body. When I learned this, I understood that all government experiments are just that, experiments. The natural state of man is with his family, living by the sweat of his labors under his own power, without any outside force to take anything away unless he consents.

We have been programmed by our society during the past 100 years to believe that we are accountable to the government. That we are indebted to our country, both with money and with liberty. This is wrong. This is the result of a social experiment.

You asked me to show you some convincing material that would help you really appreciate the message of Ron Paul. I am excited by this, however, I cannot show you anything beyond what I have seen or heard on the Internet, which boils down to hours and hours of sound bites, videos, lectures, essays and independent study of law and sociology.

It is my belief that Thomas Jefferson was absolutely correct when he defied King George by rallying the people of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against the occupation of British forces. Not just because life was going to be easier without the redcoats and taxes, but because the world needed a place where humans could live in utter freedom without rule. That was the intent of the founding fathers and that is why they took 11 years to finish drafting the Constitution.

I hold both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution dear to my heart. They are not just good ideas, or experiments in government- I see them as mathematical proof of our unalienable rights, printed in words everyone can understand, in order to protect each individual from oppressors and tyrants, large or small.

The world we live in now is far from what the founding fathers had envisioned. The simple explanation for this is because our government has failed to obey the Constitution and they thought they knew best, so they veered way off the path. The undermining started before the Constitution was even finished, however, the major irreversible damage wasn't inflicted until after the civil war when we adopted the Federal Reserve act of 1913. From there, we also adopted the New Deal and other social programs that felt good and looked nice to poor people, but eventually derailed our system, which instead of fixing we decided to expand.

Now we have a state office for everything, a country full of welfare dependents, a military industrial complex, a health care monopoly, a doomed currency, a nose-diving economy, a ridiculous education system designed to make smart kids stupid, a rotting infrastructure that will have to be completely rebuilt in less than fifty years including all electrical lines and substations, we have a highway system completely dependent on cars that burn petroleum controlled by a monopoly, an illegal and unethical tax system designed to destroy the middle class and boost the rich... I could go on for hours.

These are ALL results of disobeying the Constitution. If one carefully and thoughtfully reads the Articles and Amendments, there is no provision for ANY of the social programs that created the mess we are in. We can only blame it on overzealous politicians, uneducated public and corrupt business.

It's that simple. And the only way to undo this mess it to rub the salt in the wound and obey the Constitution, repeal the unconstitutional laws and stay on track from here on out.

Our country is still a great nation. Overall, I still believe it is the greatest nation on Earth, without sounding like a nationalist. We have had our defining moments of prosperity and glory, but now we are falling into a trap of imperialism and despotism.

My life has been drastically altered because of war. I am a different person. I needed answers and I started looking at the problems and figuring out their causes. Now I am working on their solutions. The best solution I have for the problems I see is the Constitution. The only presidential candidate- the only politician for that matter- who subscribes to what I believe to be right and true, is none other than Ron Paul. Not only is he the ONLY candidate who strictly obeys the Constitution, but he has been doing exactly that for 30+ years in office as a Congressman.

He embodies what I believe to be the essence of a true statesman; an intellectual man who cares more about the people than the government. This is truly rare because most politicians do not understand how the government harms the people. In fact, most average people don't understand it either. It seems only the ones who have been affected by it start to grasp this concept. The people of this country who have never gone without or have never had something taken from them live in blissful ignorance, or so it seems.

I envision two possible outcomes for this country, or maybe a shade in between. If we get back on track by obeying our Constitution and undoing the social mess we have become, I see the middle class flourishing in the next 50 years. Education and health care will boom. The tech industry will boom. The transportation and energy industries will boom. The poor will ween themselves from welfare in a matter of one or two generations. The illegal immigrants will enter legally, easily and ready to work and participate. The inflation of our currency will disappear and the volatility of the market will subside to normal, natural growth. The overall quality of life for all Americans will become better, if not wonderful.

On the flip side, if we continue on the path of destruction we have set for ourselves by buying into this idea that we need the government to 'employ' each citizen via corporatism, taxation and welfare programs, our economy will dissolve in less than fifty years. We are already on the brink of bankruptcy now and the only thing keeping us on life support are our generous lenders in China and our Federal Reserve credit deficit, which also is the cause of our rapid inflation. This is a recipe for disaster and many elite bankers and politicians like Rockefeller, Bush Sr and Kissinger know this. In fact, I believe they are purposefully designing the demise of our economy to force us into accepting a global economy much like the European Union.

History has shown us that socialism can only work in tightly controlled environments. If people do not exercise self control, the government will do it for them. And of course, we all know that the opposite of liberty is control.

The sovereignty of our nation is at stake. The freedoms we enjoy granted to us by our Creator and protected by the Constitution are at stake. The people of this country are asleep at the wheel. They are blinded by their bread and games or 'cirque and pan' as Caesar called it. He knew how to pacify the masses in order to build his empire. "Give them bread and games and they will think I am great!" Well, Caesar, just like every empire before yours, they all fall from within, because when you stop people from working, take away their money and give them bread and games and treat them like children, that is what they become. The moral character of society declines to selfishness and greed. People stop caring about families and do not value the sanctity of life. They worship money and material possession. They lose their understanding of the essence of work and replace it with a false belief that they can get something for nothing. And when it is time to work, they do not know how and fall into poverty, hoping the government will provide for them.

This dismal picture is just the pretext to what will happen if we do not take action now. If we do not step up now and use our voices to spread the message of liberty and educate the people, give them hope and cure them of their apathy, we will all fall like Rome. But where Rome fell was safe and soft. The people went back to farming and local government. We will not be so lucky. If and when the US falls, it will be horrific. Revolutionary is not the word I would use. Apocalyptic is more fitting.

It will start with rioting because the price of gas and food has skyrocketed. Thousands will fill the streets as CNN and FOX broadcast the early riots. Police and National Guard will be called to arrest thousands. Curfews will be imposed. Makeshift prisons will be created overnight. Hundreds of thousands of people will be detained indefinitely without due process because Martial Law will be declared. Meanwhile, emergency Congressional meetings will be held to pass desperate bills dissolving the sovereignty of the US, combining our economy with several other countries, if not the EU or the newly created North American Union. Millions of people will lose their jobs and thousands will die of starvation and exposure as the banks foreclose their mortgages and drive them to the streets. The Great Depression will look like the Small Depression compared to what will happen if we do not prevent it.

Well, my friend, I am probably going way too deep into speculation, but I cannot help it. I am an observer of pattern and logic. When I see a pattern, I base my projections on the logical assumption that the pattern will continue. This is what I see happening to our country and I don't like it. I am going to fight by standing up for liberty. Ron Paul has been fighting every day for over 40 years since he joined the Air Force during the 1960s. He is the Champion of the Constitution because he exudes the essence of liberty in action. He is not just belching out the hollow rhetoric the others have memorized and rehearsed. He needs only the Constitution as his guide and no more- he is a moral man by definition.

It is my hope, as you sojourn on your quest for truth, you seek exactly that and nothing else. For truth lies at the heart of all goodness. It breathes life into all plants and animals. It drives us to become better men. It flows through the halls of our homes when we invite it. It protects us from the evil lies and filth that bring down society. Truth bonds us together, deception drives us apart. Truth derives all knowledge and defines all wisdom. It dispels all myth and destroys all falsehood. Truth empowers the weak and brings down the powerful corrupt. Truth cannot be hidden forever for it is eternal. We hold these truths to be self-evident.

I’ve often questioned how viable Paul is as a candidate, especially for the GOP nomination, with such a singular viewpoint on how the country should be run. Many of his supporters have suggested that a Ron Paul presidency would have to be one about compromise because Paul would never have the votes to push that singular agenda through. And fair enough, that’s viable in my mind.

But what about some of these other viewpoints the blogger points out?

He Doesn’t Believe in the Separation of Church and State

He’s Not For Federally Supported Public Education

Yeah, That Means No College Loans

He’s Not For National Health Care

He’s Against Abortion and Would Like to See Roe vs. Wade Overturned

He Doesn’t Believe The Evidence for Man-Made Global Warming Is Convincing

Now, far be it from me to speak for the Ron Paul crowd, but my guess is that many of you are completely okay with most of these. Maybe one thing on this list would be a big problem for you, but it’s probably different for most everybody. I also think the blogger raising these concerns seems to me to be rather liberal in his viewpoints because he says he’s in love with Ron Paul for his foreign policy views.

Which raise the questions: How many of Ron Paul’s liberal supporters will really support his bid for the presidency? And is it really just about the foreign policy views?

This is yet another reason why I think Paul will need to go 3rd party if he has any shot of actually winning. His appeal is broad, but his liberal supporters will fall off once they start to really dig into the issues. He’s a libertarian through and through and that appeals so much more to Republicans and Independents."

My rebuttal:

1. Church and StateRebuttal: The Founders used the words 'God' or 'Creator' in almost every important document, including the Constitution. The courts use a Bible to swear in witnesses and the Chief Justice uses a Bible to swear in the new President of the US.

2. Federal Department of EducationRebuttal: The children in the US rank 37 in the world because of our flawed federal system. Solution: follow the Constitution and let the States control education.

3. Student LoansRebuttal: Cost of State College Tuition is driven up when federally subsidized loans are handed out like candy. No more loans would drive the costs down, create more schools and so on…

4. National Health CareRebuttal: Follow the Constitution and dissolve the insurance monopoly created by HMOs and corporate pharmaceuticals. If federal laws promoted private practice instead of protecting insurance companies, health care costs would go down and people could afford it. Let people keep their taxes and that would be roughly the monthly cost to a private practice.

5. Global WarmingRebuttal: There is enough evidence supporting that global climate change has been a cycle caused by the sun and stars for eons of time, that many of us are beginning to dispute the so-called “Man-Made Global Warming” theory. By the way, it’s still a THEORY. This does not mean we shouldn’t be concerned about energy consumption and pollution.

It seems some of Ron Paul's supporters subscribe to very socialistic ideals. I'm sure this discussion will continue, however, Ron Paul is not only the most viable candidate, he is the candidate most strongly principled in the Constitution. Foreign policy aside, his platform is exactly what this country needs to avoid a total collapse in 50 years. No exaggeration.